What historical evidence supports the events described in Daniel 5? Daniel 5 in Historical Focus Daniel 5:18 records Daniel addressing Belshazzar: “O king, the Most High God gave your father Nebuchadnezzar sovereignty and greatness and glory and honor.” The chapter then narrates Belshazzar’s feast, the mysterious handwriting on the wall, Daniel’s interpretation, and the overnight capture of Babylon. For centuries critics dismissed the narrative as fiction. Archaeology has now overturned every major objection and supplied multiple lines of corroboration. Babylon’s Royal Line Reconstructed 1. Neo-Babylonian king lists on clay tablets (BM 35382, BM 33041) place Nabonidus on the throne from 556–539 BC. 2. The Nabonidus Cylinder from Ur (discovered 1854, British Museum ANE 91108) repeatedly names “Bel-shar-usur, my firstborn son,” whom Nabonidus “entrusted with kingship.” 3. The Verse Account of Nabonidus (BM 38299) confirms that Nabonidus spent long periods in Tema of Arabia, leaving Belshazzar to “exercise kingship” in Babylon. Together these documents show a true co-regency that resolves Daniel’s detail that the prophet could only be made “third ruler in the kingdom” (Daniel 5:16, 29). Nabonidus remained first, Belshazzar second; the highest honor still available was third—precisely as Daniel records. Belshazzar Rediscovered Before 1854 critics argued that Belshazzar never existed because Greek historians omit him. His name now appears on more than two dozen cuneiform texts (e.g., BM 44222, 41462; Sippar tablets CT 56.190). One text dated to the twelfth year of Nabonidus is headed: “Bel-shar-usur, the king’s son.” These finds validate the historicity of the king named in Daniel 5. The Night Babylon Fell The Babylon Chronicle (BM 21946, also called “Chronicle 7”) states: • “16 Tishri: Cyrus’ army entered Babylon without battle. Nabonidus fled.” • “Ugbaru, governor of Gutium, entered Babylon and the king died.” The date equates to 12 October 539 BC. Daniel 5:30 says, “That very night Belshazzar king of the Chaldeans was slain.” The chronicle’s “king” dying the night the city fell fits Belshazzar’s death, while cuneiform economic tablets show Nabonidus alive in exile later, matching Daniel’s silence about Nabonidus. Who Was Darius the Mede? Daniel 6 introduces “Darius the Mede” who “received the kingdom” (Daniel 5:31). Two main historical candidates align with extant records: 1. Ugbaru (Gubaru), the general named in the Cyrus Cylinder and Chronicle, captured Babylon and ruled it for Cyrus until his death weeks later. His age (~62, Daniel 5:31) and administrative actions fit Daniel 6. 2. Cyaxares II, a Median king noted by Xenophon (Cyropaedia 1.5.2; 4.1.19) and Berossus (fr. 14), may have received the kingdom ceremonially before handing it to Cyrus. Either reconstruction harmonizes with Daniel’s statement that Darius “was made king” rather than seizing independent rule. Material Culture of the Banquet Excavations at Nebuchadnezzar’s Southern Palace (Koldewey, 1900s) uncovered vast banquet halls capable of hosting thousands. Thousands of cultic vessels have been catalogued; administrative tablets from Eanna and Esagila temples show sacred vessels taken as tribute, explaining how Belshazzar had access to “the vessels of gold and silver that Nebuchadnezzar…had taken from the temple in Jerusalem” (Daniel 5:2). Dead Sea Scroll Witness Fragments 4QDana, b, c (mid-2nd century BC) contain readable portions of Daniel 5, predating the Greek Septuagint and confirming the text’s antiquity. These Hebrew manuscripts crush the notion of a late Maccabean composition inventive of Belshazzar. Prophetic Cohesion with Isaiah and Jeremiah Isaiah 13:17–22 and Jeremiah 51:37–58 prophesy Babylon’s fall to the Medes and Persians and permanent desolation. Daniel 5 supplies the historical hinge between those prophecies and their fulfillment in Ezra 1. Independent strands of Scripture, written 150–200 years apart, converge seamlessly. Spiritual Implications Verified in History Belshazzar’s hubris, profane misuse of sacred vessels, and refusal to heed his predecessor’s testimony reveal the timeless principle that “God opposes the proud” (cf. Proverbs 3:34). The archeological confirmation of his demise gives historical teeth to the moral lesson: divine judgment is not abstract; it unfolds in real space-time. Synthesis Archaeology (Nabonidus Cylinder, Babylon Chronicle, palace ruins), epigraphy (over two dozen Belshazzar tablets), classical histories (Herodotus, Xenophon), and precise linguistic data combine to corroborate every salient feature of Daniel 5: • Belshazzar’s historical existence and rank. • Babylon’s fall during a royal feast. • The swift death of the Babylonian king that same night. • The immediate transfer of power to a Median ruler who soon yields to Cyrus. Far from legend, Daniel 5 stands on a bedrock of evidence consistent with the inspired, inerrant character of Scripture and the sovereign orchestration of the “Most High God” (Daniel 5:21) who governs kings and kingdoms alike. |
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